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Examples of Great Titles

A great title for your post/page/article is the best way to ensure a good click through rate in the SERPs which in addition to bringing in traffic, it actually helps raise your ranking even higher, so it's paramount that you begin every new piece of content you create on site with an alluring title. It's the first impression you can make, so let's make it count. In this article we'll cover some examples of great titles.

Examples of Great Titles

There are a number of "template" titles which will always perform well, and giving examples of them is the best way to convey why they work so well, so let's get into it using the same topic of reducing salt from one's diet and see how it develops with each example.

3 Tips for Removing Salt From Your Diet

"# of Tip" articles always perform well because it establishes an expectation with the reader that a certain number of examples must be met within that article. They know exactly what to expect before they even click through. This works well because most people see their time as being precious and limited, they want a quick solution to their problem without a lot of vague and unnecessary information, so by establishing the agreement that they'll read your article in exchange for the number of tips you've mentioned ahead of time, you're saving them time.

It also works well because it peaks the interest of the reader. They will subconsciously be listing off the number of tips they can think of in their head and will invariably click through to fill in the gaps.

How to Cut Salt From Your Diet

"How to" articles will never go out of fashion because, like with the last example, you're again establishing the expectation ahead of time that your article will provide a solution to your reader's problem. Here the expectation isn't quite as precise as listing a number of tips, but instead in many ways it's even more precise because the reader can assume that by reading the article that their problem will be solved.

The One Thing You Need to Know to Cut Salt From Your Diet

Here we're building off of and combining the last two examples I gave in a way. Here we're really peaking the imaginations and curiosities of our readers by explicitly saying that there is only one thing which you need to know to cut salt from your diet. The people who think they know what that thing is will click through to confirm, and the people who believe that it's infinitely more complex than that will click through to see how you're wrong and they're right. I didn't even mention all of the people who just want a quick solution to cutting salt from their diets who will immediately click through, as well. This is similar to the ubiquitous and tired yet effective "One Weird Trick..." headlines you've undoubtedly seen around the internet. It's click bait in its purist form, and it works for the simple fact that most people's curiosities will be peaked to an unbearable level.

Why You Could Never Cut Salt From Your Diet

I like this example because it flips things around and really sheds a light on your problem. It basically screams out your shortcomings to you while simultaneously offering up a solution. Someone reading that who has been struggling with cutting sodium from their diet will instantly be reminded of why it's so difficult. That's important, because that says to that reader that the author of this article understands their struggle and has maybe even been there themselves. It creates a feeling of shared empathy and injects a bit of ethos at the same time, making it practically irresistable for anyone reading that headline who is suffering from the issue mentioned to not click through.

These are just a few examples to give you an idea of the value and power of peaking interest and making their struggle theirs and vice versa, all within the simplicity of a short title. Continue to put yourself into the head of your reader, consider the types of headlines someone in that position would find unable to avoid clicking through, and execute accordingly to boost your click through rate and with it your rankings and conversions.